Hustlers Beat Super Chargers
By Ravi Mohan
It was a destructive performance by Hustlers Cricket club as they humiliate Super Chargers by 222 runs in the Premier division quarterfinal played at Roy Wilkins Park. Two hundred and twenty two run is one of the largest margins of defeat in the history of softball cricket.

Super Chargers won the toss and ask Hustlers to take first strike rattling up 270 for the loss of four wickets and then bundle out Super Chargers of 48 all out. Sudesh Persaud made 92 not out which include 5 fours and 3 sixes, Asif Ally made 66, 9 fours and Ravi Persaud made 22, 4 fours. Sudesh and Asif share a partnership of 144 runs for the third wicket.

Shawn Persaud aka Gaza opening the bowling for Hustlers bowled a nightmare spell to Supers Charger batsmen having figures of 5 for 13 in his six overs. Shawn one of the élite bowlers in softball cricket was very disappointed last week when Hustlers lost to Assassin and he has rebound to put his team back on track to defend the 30 Overs championship they won last year. Ravi Murray picked up 2 for 20 and Kris Sobhai 2 for 1. Hustlers would like to repeat this performance this weekend when they take on United Stars in one of the semifinals. United Stars is the only team to beat Hustlers in the playoff. Whenever Hustlers get passed United Stars they went on to win the championships all four time.

Sunrise Bowlers Decapitated Phantom In Quarter Final
By Morris Seecharan
Once the news break that the Phantom team which is made up by former players of the Sunrise cricket club was matched up against Sunrise in the 30 over quarter final Phantom players became very cocky and boastful with the attitude that they will washed Sunrise. Phantom coming at 2nd and Sunrise at 7th in Division 1B made the Phantom players even more zesty prior to the game. However, the Sunrise player with experience and principle understand that the game of cricket is played on the field starting with the first pitch of the game and does not end until the last ball is bowl. With this in mind Sunrise managers captain, and players knowing the caliber of the Phantom players will caved in once a few wickets fell quickly strategically winning the toss put Phantom into bat.

Both Rickey Deenue and Kalif Salim had 4 wickets each against Phantom. Photo by Loretta Cheong

Terry Sital, and Ryan Ramjas opened for Phantom was faced with Kalif Salim, who saw Terry leaving his leg stumps opened after the 1st ball of the game bowled around the wicket in the 2nd ball and clean bowled Sital who had no clue what he was doing at the crease with the score 1 for 0. Ryan was setup to hit for catches with loose balls but manages to get a few of these balls to leg side for a few boundaries as he was bowled by Kalif with a short delivery for 16. Sase Narine Phantom captain briefly tried to get thing going but found it impossible as Kemraj Somaru kept him off guard with attacking bowling getting him to pop up at off square in the 6thh over with the score 3 for 29. With Ricky Deenu in the attack the fate of Phantom was sealed as he picked up 2 quick wickets taking out Gerald Lloyd and Avinash Persaud for 1 made the score 44 for 5 in the 9th over.

Accordingly as per Sunrise game plan Phantom in experience players had no idea of their objectives batted with no efforts, and begin to fall apart. Kalif picked up 2 more quick wickets adding more fuel to the fire with the score the score 47 for 7 as the Phantom batsmen disintegrate to 70 for 8 in the 15 over’s.

Back at the pavilion one could see the disgust in Phantom player’s faces as they started to quarrel amongst themselves trying to ascertain the blows dealt by Sunrises bowlers. Ricky with no doubt wanted to rake up the rest the batsmen bowled Javed Salim for duck in between in his legs. Somaru cleaned bowl Amit Doma for a duck as Phantom did not get past Sunrise 3 main bowlers destroyed for 77 all out in 16.3 over’s.

Rickey, Kalif, and Somaru the bowling trio for Sunrise brought Phantom players to reality with a low score as Rickey Deenu lead his team bowling again went for 5-0-18-4. Kalif bowled brilliantly went for 6-0-28-4, and Somaru whose bowling was penetrating spell reads 5.4-1-17-2.

Phantom believed their strength was bowling opening with Dave Singh who 1st over seems promising, but Stanley Lloyd did not share such luck as Masson Salim punished him with back to back boundaries knocking Stanley out for the bowling rotation. Dave Singh met the same faith in his 2nd over as he was pounded by Masood and Roopnarine Dayal. Masood continued his dominant batting exploded for quick runs making the Phantom players looked subdued and doomed that victory is inevitable. Masood slammed the door shut on Phantom as he made a jiffy 26 runs which include 4 fours as Sunrises lost their first wicket at 36 in the 5the over. Dayal coming of an 87 runs not out knock looked anchored and stubborn was joined by Wahab Hussein after Sunrise lost a quick wicket by Ryan Ramjas. Dayal and Wahab once more batted with brilliance built a key partnership for Sunrise.

Wahab cracked several flamboyant strokes with flurries of boundaries rapidly moved toward the required target. Dayal the stabilizer for Sunrise wasted no time spearheaded his batting mission to see that his team take this important games. With both batsmen in control Phantom became hopeless looked like they wanted to run and hide when their bowlers was being pushed around by Dayal and Wahab. With the scored tied Wahab edged a ball from Javid Salim onto his stump, and Selwyn Cheong was asked to see the game finalized. Sunrise easily made the required 78 runs in 13.3 over for this important win hushing the Phantom player. Dayal who was not out had a vital 27 knock and once again lead his team batting offensive.

Ryan Rajas bowled for 3-0-20-2 and Javid Salim 1.3-0-5-1.

Falcons Defeated Young Brothers
By Richard Singh
Falcons the underdog, defeated the No. 1 seed Young Brothers in the quarter finals of the 30 overs competition. The game was played at Flushing Park, Queens. Young Brothers won the toss and chose to field. It was overcast with gray clouds and was a cool day. Little drops here and there did not prevent the fearless Falcons to take control and dominate the match.

Azam Khan and Narotam (Krishna) Tiwari shared in a partnership of 181 runs.

The opening batsmen Narotam (Krishna) Tiwari and Azam Khan gave Falcons a enormous start with 181 runs partnership. Azam took control from the beginning hitting the ball for seven sixes out in the Van Wyck Expressway and ten fours. He made 97 run and fell short 3 runs to accomplish his century after he was bowled by T. Danraj. Krishna did not last too long; he was run out for 54 runs. Vick Ramnarine came and assaulted Young Brothers bowlers for a quick 20 runs which include 1 six and 3 fours before he was run out. Navin Bipat (captain) was caught off A. Sahadeo for 9 runs. Falcons made 227 runs with 3 wickets remaining in the allotted 30 overs.

In reply, Young Brothers made 131 runs all out in 25.1 overs. T. Dhanraj (captain) top score for 27 runs and M. Parsram made 23 runs for Young Brothers.

Eric Bisson was the main wicket taker for Falcons. He took 4 wickets for 25 runs while Vick Ramnarine got 3 wickets for 22 runs. The other wicket takers for Falcons were Navin Narathan , Rafi Singh and Deno Basamber. They shared 1 wicket each.

Unity Roars – Lions Whimpers
On a beautiful cool day for cricket, Unity Cricket Club emphatically won their match against the #1 seed Lions in the Division II A 30 overs competition. Winning the toss and asking Lions team to bat first, Unity had thoughts of restricting them to a lower score than their eventual 235 runs. However, this was not to be as Lions team were led by a magnificent undefeated 117 from D. Ramdanny and well supported by S. Kellowan with an even 50. Bowling for Unity, V. McLennon took 2 for 50.

At the end of Lions innings, there was a hint of sarcasm and smugness on their part as they felt that their final score was beyond their opponents reach. Unity however had other ideas and after being given a great start by their opening batsmen, R. Mallay and V. Siwlal whereby at the end of the 10 overs mark they had scored 80 runs, were then able to consolidate and eventually pummel and pulverize the Lions bowling, ending up with 239 runs for 2 wickets in 27.4 overs. Batting for Unity, S. Singh top scored with a stroke filled 74 not out and again leading from the front was the skipper D. Sanichara finishing up with 56 not out and an invaluable 49 from R. Mallay.

Unity Cricket Club now looks forward to next week’s semi final game with great anticipation. Way to go guys and good luck.

Wolfpack Cruised by NY All Stars Into Semifinals
By Dev Autar
Wolfpack Cricket Club advance to the NYSCL division 1B semi finals with a convincing win over NY All Stars. After winning the toss NY All Stars captain ask Wolfpack to take first strike which at first seems like a good decisions. The batsmen find it very difficult to score runs losing both openers with only 17 runs on the board. At the 15 over break the score was 70 for 3 and with wickets in hand the pair of E. Jaikarran and H. Bacchus knew they have to increase the scoring rate, which they did scoring at ten runs per over before E. Jaikarran was caught off the bowling of N. Mohamed for a super knock of 58 runs which included 6×4 and 1×6.

S. Adam was caught soon after without scoring with the score on 104 runs. Captain D. Autar joins Bacchus and they put on a 22 runs partnership before Bacchus mistimed a full toss and was caught for 24 runs. R. Baichoolall was next and batted cautiously for his 11 runs. With the score on 151 for 7 after 24 over, D.Autar begin his assault smashing 5×6 and 4×4 to score an entertaining and unbeaten 60 runs and see his team to a final score of 212 for 9 off the allotted 30 overs. NY Allstars bowling was led by N. Mohamed 3 for 55, M. Wahid 2 for 29 and O. Sooman 2 for 34.

NY All Stars in reply get off to a quick start with openers K. Hemraj and R. Deodat hitting the ball aggressively to all parts of the field putting on a 77 runs opening partnership before Hemraj was bowled by D. Autar for 44 runs which included 6×4. After 15 overs NY All Stars was well place at 85 for 1. After the break Harry Jagnauth batted aggressively but was caught for 25 runs. N. Mohamed follow and was bowled by W. Asrula for 12 runs. R. Deodat was soon run out for a super knock of 39 runs.

With the score on 150 for 5 after 24 overs and the asking rate continue to rise, the rest of the batsmen went after the bowling with no success and NY All Stars was bowled out for 176 runs. W. Asrula was Wolfpack most successful bowler picking up 4 wickets for 29 runs. A. Mowla was on target getting 2 wickets for 21 runs. D. Autar, Z. Bacchus and R.Baichoolall pick up a wicket apiece.

Bobby Pahalad had 4 for 5 against Liberty Knights. Photos by Shiek Mohamed.